Senate Democrats introduce bill to implement term limits and biannual appointments to Supreme Court
Senate Democrats reignite debate over Supreme Court justice term limits
One of the primary justifications for having a lifetime appointment was to take corruption out of the equation, and that’s clearly not working, so…
When a deeply corrupt branch is responsible for installing appointments to another branch with no public accountability whatsoever... yeah. One bad apple spoils the barrel, and a solid half of the barrel is nothing but the most pungent, loathsome rot.
Good. I’m not sure how the founding fathers didn’t conceive of this becoming a problem in the first place
Weren't a few of them outright begging for people to not cling to political parties? They probably were hoping that the courts would remain bipartisan just because they would be on the stands longer than whatever recent trend was going on when they were nominated in.
Whereas if they had terms like the other branches they would always be voted in based on current issues.
Of course, at the time they did all this, Judicial Review hadn't even been conceived yet, let alone using judicial review to undo other supreme court cases en-masse.
Weren't a few of them outright begging for people to not cling to political parties?
For the most part they were stupid to do so. Coalition building is independent of even government system. Look at the political parties behind the Nikea riots during the reign of Emperor Justinian. The truth is you could have sortition form the legislative branch and they would STILL develop political parties.
Jefferson, when the Court granted itself the power of judicial review (which, yes, they just gave themselves because they were the authority and nothing said they couldn't) warned us about despotism from the courts. For as many flaws as that man had, he was dead-on about that
I mean I definitely get their reasoning behind it. I’m just saying that I don’t understand how they didn’t realize lifetime appointments could lead to some really shitty consequences if the wrong people were put in power.
Like, they set term limits for everything else because they saw the absolute shitfest what having a lifetime-appointed official could have with the king, but they didn’t think about the possibility of the supreme court getting filled with people who were just as, if not more, awful?
Just seems like a major oversight
I know a fair few Republicans have also said they wanted this. So I fully expect them to oppose this on the basis of "if a dem proposed it, it must be SATANISM".
Whoa, whoa, whoa. Satanism? Really? Come on. Be fair to the Republican position.
If a Democrat proposes something it's socialism, duh. They know the Democrats are all dirty heathens and don't care about Satan.
You literally don't have a functioning House. There won't even be a Speaker to put your silly little bill in permanent time out.
You could have done this two years ago, no problem. But now all you're proving is how much to suck at doing politics.
I love that we're doing this, I hate that it's not an amendment to the constitution.
I feel like this purposal doesn't tackle the subject appropriately.
Historically there's been streaks of one party winning elections (like 1869-1885) this kind of change might end up ensuring the SCOTUS is even more polarized.
I think an approach more focused on auditing justices to ensure they don't fall to impropriety would make more sense.
To be fair for the most part Scotus judges aren't really 'republican' or 'democrat' but are normally grouped based on how they interpret law, with completely different names like 'originalists' or 'textualists'. The idea was them being nonpolitical arbitrers of law. But of course they're still appointed by presidents who fall into a party who insert bias by selecting someone they like.
Id vote for that.
I'd love to know under what conditions this proposal is constitutional.
The supreme court is a right wing sclerotic fistula providing passage to creeping fascism, but reinterpreting Article 3 Section 1 is a tall order. By only saying that justices shall "hold their offices during good behavior" the Constitution is traditionally read to mean that only impeachment, retirement, or death will end a term.
For people who tout democracy so much you guys are fucking shit at it
Imagine having the legacy of being the judges that this law was even proposed because of
Like they care. If they're forced to retire, they'll get cushy jobs making bajillions for law firms or lobbyist groups.
They won’t need them. They’ll still get paid…